Mental Holiday
Tag: environment
to tweeze or not to tweeze – yes, tweeze!
As mentioned previously on this Blog, I am a Cactus and Succulent enthusiast but certainly not an expert in this area. I was given a Euphorbia Succulent by my Aunt Beryl in 1977, when I was 14 and, if you’ll pardon the pun, my interest grew from there.
A few years back I had a 35square metre Cacti and Succulent garden. Currently, all my plants are in pots as we live in a different place, though when we move in the next two years I feel sure I will have a combination of a garden and pots.
One of the challenges regardless of where they are planted is weeds. Some Cacti (particularly) are harder to weed than others which gives rise to another problem i.e. the enthusiast getting stabbed (usually more than once) with Cacti spines. These spines can range from less than a millimetre or two to over three centimetres long, and regardless of the size, they are all quite painful. Sometimes, you cannot see them with the naked eye.
So, what is the solution or workaround?
Gloves are the obvious thought, however, trust me, they offer little protection against the stronger spines i.e. the spine will go straight through them. Maybe a pair of flexible Kevlar gloves would be good…
I often weed in and around Cacti bare-handed and work slowly, methodically and carefully as I can though even then I still get stabbed and sometimes you cannot see the spine or it may have broken off inside your skin…but you can certainly feel it…
In the event of getting stabbed by a smaller spine, and particularly ones not visible to the naked eye, I have a bottle of Ichthammol 25% w/w Drawing Ointment at the ready. As it says on the bottle, it is a ‘Drawing Ointment’ meaning you apply a small amount to the area where the spine went in and it draws it out overnight. Just pop a bandaid loosely over the affected area and next morning the spine is magically gone!
Not surprisingly, I get a lot of use out of this product…maybe too much!
I have also tried using a pair of Long-Nosed Pliers with varying degrees of success.
This Christmas, my Wife Susan surprised me with an additional mini-present within my actual present and it was a set of unusually long pair of straight and angle ‘Tweezers’ for pulling out weeds around Cacti that she had stumbled across online. There are 27cm in length and made of steel.
I road-tested these last weekend and must say that I am delighted with them. One of the Cacti I have the most trouble weeding is from the Echinopsis family, pictured below. The weeds seem to come up between the ‘Balls’ of Cacti and can be most difficult to remove. Today it was relatively easy.
Obviously, the goal is not to let the weeds get as bad as this but as usual, life gets in the way sometimes or it rains for long periods or we get so busy etc.
Now that I am armed with these tools I just need to ‘get onto the weeds’ before they get too big and unwieldy. At least now, I can look forward to my hands getting punctured less. That is, in itself a great way to start a New Year!
Till next time!
Written by David Johnson
Wednesday, 5 January 2022
What opportunities await
cherished rendezvous
our new campaign
discovery & adventure
One of the presents I was very grateful to receive yesterday for Christmas was the book pictured below. I had spotted it in my local Art store and (as usual) when approaching Christmas, my Wife, Susan said ‘do you have any ideas for presents just in case anyone in the family is stumped for what to buy you?’
I only started keeping a sketchbook regularly at hand in the past 3-4 years and have been searching around for ‘that elusive all-purpose sketchbook’ that apparently does not exist.
We are so spoilt for choice these days in terms of Art supplies, including sketchbooks, not so in days gone past.
The book is beautifully presented and highlights 70 Explorers and what they used to document their journeys and their discoveries. The sketchbooks go back as far as the 1600’s to the 21st century.
I imagine they were ‘not spoiled for choice’ back then in terms of sketchbook and paper types. I think sometimes ‘we have too many choices’ and ‘get too wrapped up’ in the myriad of tools available. Maybe we should apply the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Super Simple) method more often?
I am looking forward to diving in to read about not only the Explorer’s adventures but also what they used to record their adventures and discoveries. It is going to be a fascinating journey!
Till next time!
Written by David Johnson
26 December 2021
together
Flow
a growing collection…
I’ve been thinking about doing this type of post for awhile now and I have been trying to keep busy in light of the recent sadness that has befallen our Family this week.
My love for Poetry dates back to my school years and I always enjoyed borrowing Poetry books from the Library but often thought it would be great if I had some on my own bookshelf. I know I can look up the Internet at any time and view some but I’m also a ‘real book’ lover and love to curl up with one. I love the feel, the smell and conciseness of a single book in the hands.
That being said, I also have a couple of Poetry apps on my phone, ‘Poem Hunter’, which provides a daily Poem; ‘Famous Poetry’, which offers the Poetry of 36 different Poets. The apps are for those times when I cannot or do not have a book with me.
I also have a few books on the mechanics of Poetry and how to write them and I thought I would share a list of my Poetry books with you.
- The Australian and Other Verses by W.H.Ogilvie
- Poetical Works of Henry Lawson
- Selected Poems of Adam Lindsay Gordon
- The Collins Book of Australian Poetry
- Collected Verse – John Manifold
- The Poet’s Word – An Anthology of English Poetry
- Chaucer to Gray – The Harvard Classics
- The Golden Treasury of English Verse
- Morla el Do (Tomorrow Will Do) – A Collection of Norfolk Island Poems
- William Blake – Selected Poems
- Quatrains of Omar Khayyam
- The Poetical Works of John Keats
- Poetical Works of Mrs Browning Volume 1
- A Book of Poetry – Anthology of English Poetry (Textbook 1961)
- Collected Shorter Poems 1930 -1944 of W.H.Auden
- A.D.Hope – Selected Poems
- Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson
- Leaves From Australian Forests – Poetical Works of Henry Kendall
- Yet More Comic & Curious Verse – The Penguin Poets
- Enjoying Poetry 1 – Silver and Gold
- Matthew Arnold – A Selection Of His Finest Poems
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Volume 1
- Seven Centuries of Poetry in English
- The Great Modern Poets – An Anthology of the Best Poets & Poetry since 1900
- Collected Poems of Henry Thoreau
- James McCauley – Collected Poems 1936 – 1970
- The Golden Book of Modern English Poetry – Everyman’s Library – 921
- The Poet’s Pen – A Historical and Chronological Anthology – 13th to 20th Century
- Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass
- Judith Wright – Collected Poems
- Poems and Poets – David Aloian – Headmaster, Concord Academy (Textbook 1965)
- Country Verse – 16th to 19th Century
- Introduction to Poetry: British, American, Canadian
- Writing and Enjoying Haiku – A Hands-on Guide
- The Making of a Poem – A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms
- How To Read A Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry
- Poetry: Tools & Techniques – A Practical Guide to Writing Engaging Poetry
- Mary Oliver – A Poetry Handbook – A Prose Guide to Understanding & Writing Poetry
It would be very hard for me to pick out a favourite Poet or Poem so I’m not going to try. There are some of my favourite Poets missing from the list, though. Some are contained within the anthologies and it would be nice to have them in their own separate books. I know I can go out and purchase brand new books but I prefer to hunt out second-hand books as they have more character than a brand new book and there is something about ‘the hunt’ in a second-hand bookstore that makes it all the more exciting when you ‘uncover some book treasure…’.
Till next time!
Written by David Johnson
28 November 2021
Watching over the earth
Communicating Creatively 